As teen dramas tend to do, all the characters are constantly being pushed from story to story. Although creating plot for the sake of it can be interesting to watch, it often fails in making quality television. This week on The Fosters the storylines were a bit weak, especially considering the show is gearing up for a season finale, but there were some good moments nonetheless. To keep her impending trial (and her breakup with AJ) off her mind, Callie decides to take a road trip with Aaron. In LA to go rogue detective one more time, Callie also stays with Aaron’s family while he visits for his father’s birthday. What starts with an uncomfortable meal where Aaron’s parents make disrespectful jokes and misgender him purposely, turns into an opportunity to see things from a different perspective. Seeing Aaron’s mom acknowledge that, despite his transition being difficult for her, she is trying to accept her son gives a sliver of hope to all those who need it.
The majority of the episode focuses on Lena’s struggle to adjust to Stef’s new position at work, feeling alone in making decisions for their kids. A show that has definitely taken a stance as having a progressive, modern family sees the moms talking about relaxing the boundaries they’ve created for their teens in terms of sex. There’s certainly a contrasting dynamic between Stef’s more old-fashioned upbringing and Lena’s much more open approach. It was refreshing to see these conversations be so straightforward on a family show, and Lena does have a point; if their kids are going to be having sex, they might as well have the resources to do it safely.
Meanwhile, Jude deals with the bullies at school in a not so applause worthy way. Sneaking onto campus to decorate Taylor’s locker for her birthday, Jude decides to take Todd’s failing history test and plaster it all over the school lockers. Noah, of course, isn’t too happy to see Jude stooping to that level. Jude doesn’t want the bullies to keep winning and it’s hard not to understand his feelings these days. Not the most compelling storyline for Jude this week, but it did give us some sweet moments between Noah and Jude.
We also get to see Gabe come back this episode, so that’s a plus. As we left him last season, we see how dealing with depression has backtracked his life a bit. Mariana, always the one to come up with great plans, decides to invite him to stay with the family for a couple of months. I hope we get to see how that plays out in the final episodes of the season.
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